1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat activated transfers and appliqués that are used to apply a variety of different indicia onto a variety of different substrates. The particular indicia has a contrasting two-color effect achieved by laser engraving, and can be used for decorative appliqué text, logo graphics, numbers or other indicia.
2. Description of the Background
Fashion, “basic” and performance apparel, uniform, swimwear and intimate apparel and accessory manufacturers use various methods to apply decoration and identification to stretchable garments and textiles. They tend to use silk-screening, screen-printing, sonic welding, direct embroidery and heat activated transfers as their primary methods for decorating and identification.
Silk-screening of logos or emblems is commonly used, but this process does not result in a product that withstands repeated stretching, and is complex and time-consuming. In addition, the designs created by silk-screening are flat, lack texture, and do not withstand repeated stretching or industrial or home washings. Consequently, many companies prefer embroidery as their primary method for applying decoration and identification.
Sonic welding is another method used to apply decoration and identification to garments and textiles. This process requires the creation of unique, expensive special dies for any design to be applied. The quick-change requirements associated with the performance apparel industry make this process slow and relatively expensive. Sonic welding allows texturing, but also requires chemical compounds that some companies find unacceptable, and that can result in a product that does not stand stretching or repeated home and industrial laundering. Indeed, this process typically is not used by the uniform industry for these reasons. Embroidery has instead become the primary method for applying decoration and identification.
Embroidery is typically performed by a machine that applies stitching of various colors and styles to fabric to create a design. Embroidered designs have a much greater aesthetic value, and stands repeated home and industrial launderings. Yet this too is a complex, time-consuming process.
There have been a few attempts at providing a textile appliqué with a three dimensional appearance without utilizing embroidery. U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,943 to Stahl discloses a method for producing a multi-colored emblem that may be ironed-on to garments to provide an embroidered appearance. This method entails laminating a material blank, cutting the laminated material to a specific design, embroidering about the periphery of the cut design, laminating the assembly onto a second material blank, and coating the underside with a thermal adhesive layer. The emblem can then be heat-sealed to a garment. Despite the ability to give a realistic embroidered look, emblems produced using Stahls' method are relatively large, bulky and inflexible.
There are other transfer emblems that may be applied to various cloth surfaces without embroidery. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,001 to Mahn, Jr. issued Jun. 3, 1997 shows cloth transfers that include a cloth layer coated with a plastic layer which is, in turn, coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,176 to Myers issued Jun. 22, 1999 shows a composite design for attachment to another fabric article, comprising an underlying layer of twill fabric on one side of which an design is printed and heat cured. The twill is cut into a desired shape so that the twill and the ink portion form the composite design. Methods of making and attaching the composite design are disclosed.
It is known to deboss such appliqués to provide surface characteristics. These surface characteristics can increase the embroidery-likeness by simulating stitching, fabric weave, etc. PCT (International) Application No. WO9508419 by Mahn, John (Specialty Adhesives) published Mar. 30, 1995 shows a heat activated applique (11) for providing in particular numbers and letters for sports jerseys including an upper colored thermoplastic elastomer layer (14) bonded to a cloth substrate (15) by a thermoplastic adhesive (12). The thermoplastic elastomer layer (14) is debossed to provide surface characteristics. However, this kind of debossing does not alter color characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,929 to Robertson et al. issued Dec. 28, 1999 shows selective laser ablasion of an article that has been painted with two contrasting coats of paint, a topcoat and a basecoat. The topcoat, while still wet, can be ablated by the beam of a laser while the basecoat, while wet, dry or tacky, is refractory to the beam of the laser. The laser, thus, can generate alphanumeric and graphic characters (product identification indicia) on the workpiece by ablating the topcoat to reveal the basecoat to generate the characters by dint of the visible contrast between the two coats of paint. Robertson is focused on a base coat and a top coat of paint that are sequentially processed, and then laser ablation to remove the top coat and reveals the bottom coat of paint.
Laser etching produces a pattern or design on a material by eating into the material's surface. Laser etching is the practice of using lasers to engrave or mark an object to cut figures, letters, or designs. It would be desirable to use a laser-engraving concept that attaches a pre-printed textile surface layer to a substrate layer, followed by laser-engraving of the surface layer exposing the underlying substrate layer to produce a three-dimensional effect on a textile appliqué.